1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the design and manufacture of imaging systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to the design and manufacture of staring infrared sensor arrays.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current staring infrared sensors have up to 640 times the number of pixels as prior designs. The higher number of pixels present a data processing problem during the limited period of time available to perform a calibration of the sensor array. The problem arises from a need to calibrate stating sensors at the same rate as scanning sensors are calibrated in order to minimize a redesign of existing equipment originally designed for scanning sensors.
Conventional approaches use a microprocessor and perform a calibration based on some assumptions as to how the analog circuitry of the sensor is configured. Typically, the microprocessor uses successive approximations and makes evaluations to determine if adequate calibrations are achieved.
These approaches are typically slow and require information about the structure of the analog circuitry that is used for the calibration. In addition, these approaches typically required many batches of data in order to remove noise adequately.
Hence, there has been a need in the art for an improved system and technique for calibrating staring infrared sensors at high speed without requiring information about the system being calibrated or the system being used to perform the calibration.